By Chris Judd, News Correspondent
Freshmen Sophie Browne and Amanda Liew both nabbed their first collegiate win to boost the Northeastern swimming and diving team over the University of Rhode Island in a 162.5-110.5 victory Saturday, Feb. 2 in Kingston, R.I.
“We were hoping to see a great performance, and this was a good way to finish for seniors and people who can’t come with us to championships,” head coach Roy Coates said. “Amanda and Sophie both did well. They were both good all year round, and they finished up great.”
Four Huskies can’t compete in the championships due to a roster restriction, so Coates mixed up the lineups for this meet, helping prepare for championships by giving swimmers more experience in some events that they will be competing in.
Browne won the 200-meter backstroke (2:08.49) and also placed second in the 100-meter backstroke, her best performances of the year.
“It felt awesome to win an event,” Browne said. “We’ve worked hard all year long, so it was satisfying to finally win.
Liew won the 100-freestyle and finished second in the 100-breaststroke. She was a walk-on to the team, and wasn’t planning on competing before her college career.
“We had [more of a rest] this week since we aren’t competing in championships,” Liew said. “It showed in our results and it was nice to go out with a bang. For next year, my goal is to compete in championships. I’ll have a better understanding of what I need to do, and I’ll be more prepared for the training.”
Sophomore Anna Schegoleva had a good performance with wins in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.58) and the 100-meter butterfly (58.30). She also finished second in the 100-meter freestyle, behind Liew.
In the 400-meter medley relay, juniors Dana Schleif, Julia Alvarez, and Alli Gielowski and senior Kelley Becherer won with a time of 3:58.91.
Schleif also won the 100-meter backstroke (1:00.46) ahead of Browne and took third in the 200-meter backstroke (2:11.05).
In diving, junior Candace Young had a season-high 256.81 points in the one-meter dive. She also won the three-meter dive with a season-high 271.72. Junior DeAnna Vecchiarello was second in the 1-meter dive with 201.45 points and third in the three-meter dive with 213.30 points.
Junior Julia Sepulveda and Gielowski finished in first and second in the 200-meter butterfly with times of 2:08.67 and 2:10.18, respectively. Gielowski also finished in third in the 100-meter butterfly (59.71).
Alvarez won the 100-meter breaststroke (1:06.84) and senior McClernan won the 200-meter breaststroke (2:26.01) while Sepulveda finished in third place. Junior Adriana Sepulveda took second place in the 500-meter freestyle and while sophomore Megan Foran took third in the 200-meter freestyle (1:58.16).
The Huskies have a three week break before competing in the Conference Championships from Feb. 27 to March 2. They placed sixth last year, and are looking to improve on that.
“I do think the goal is realistic,” Coates said. “It’s also a good stretch, but we’ll be disappointed if we don’t get at least fifth place. We lost to Old Dominion [University] and [University of] Delaware during the regular season and both of those were tough losses. We have to beat them this time around.”
While the season is over for some of the Huskies, they have more to look forward to next year, especially after notching a couple of event wins as freshmen.
“The season was amazing,” Browne said. “This group of girls was amazing. I’ll miss the seniors because they made this the best season possible. I really wish we could have the same exact people again next year.”
